Case Study: Achieving CMOM Objectives with a Limited Budget Through Applied Asset Management

Beginning in 2007, California required reporting of all Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO) as part of the state's adoption of the EPA's proposed Capacity, Management, Operation and Maintenance (CMOM) guidelines for Municipal Sanitary Sewer Collection Systems. In 2005, prior to the regulation, Veolia Water North America signed an operating services contract requiring conformance to CMOM for the City of Richmond, California which included tracking and reporting every SSO.Since Veolia Water implemented its applied asset management program in 2005, Richmond has experienced significant reduction in SSOs. This is quite a change from the 50 annual SSOs reported in 2005. Under Veolia Water's stewardship, the number was reduced by nearly 80% in 2006, reaching 84% by 2007.Richmond achieved these results despite severe economic limitations because of Veolia Water's implementation of a four-stage asset management program for developing a Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) in compliance with CMOM. This four-stage plan resulted in rigorously prioritized repair/replacement, and capital investment plans that focused on highly leveraged repairs to make the difference in the investment strategy.The paper will cover the steps that were taken to achieve these results, including:Implementation of a GIS-based work and asset management (EAM) system to plan and prioritize daily schedules along with implementation of mobile computing solutions to support field staff with full GIS and work management system access.Using condition assessment ratings (PACP) in combination with video, sonar, LIDAR, and other advanced assessment strategies to complete a condition assessment of the entire system in a relatively short time period.Analysis of capacity and asset criticality to develop specific queries to identify priorities for both Repair and Replacement and Capital Investment Planning.Specification and program management methods to insure maximum life-cycle value of asset repairs and replacements.